Islamic State issues video of beheading of U.S. hostage — (Reuters) - The Islamic State released a video purporting to show the beheading of American hostage Steven Sotloff, a monitoring service said on Tuesday, raised the stakes in its confrontation with Washington over U.S. air strikes on its fighters in Iraq.

Halfway House: GOP falling short in midterms — Tepid fundraising, underperforming candidates and a lousy party brand are threatening to deprive House Republicans of the sweeping 2014 gains that some top party officials have been predicting this year. — POLITICO interviewed …

Post names Frederick J. Ryan Jr. as new publisher — Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is replacing Publisher Katharine Weymouth with Frederick J. Ryan Jr., a former Reagan administration official who was part of the founding leadership team of Politico, a primarily digital news organization …

Russian bank hires two former U.S. senators — U.S. sanctions against Russia are becoming a boon for Washington's lobbyists — Gazprombank GPB (OJSC), a Russian bank targeted with sanctions by President Obama over the Ukraine crisis, has hired two former U.S. senators to lobby against those sanctions …

Why I'm Leaving Slate for Bloomberg Politics — This blog does not believe in lede-burying, so here you go: On September 19, I'll be leaving Slate to work for Bloomberg Politics. I'll be covering exactly what I cover now, but at a different address. Slate's politics and policy coverage …

What ISIS's Leader Really Wants — The longer he lives, the more powerful he becomes — On June 29, 2014—or the first of Ramadan, 1435, for those who prefer the Islamic calendar to the Gregorian—the leaders of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) publicly uttered for the first time a word …

Life in an English Town Where Abuse of Young Girls Flourished — ROTHERHAM, England — It started on the bumper cars in the children's arcade of the local shopping mall. Lucy was 12, and a group of teenage boys, handsome and flirtatious, treated her and her friends to free rides and ice cream after school.

Apple Media Advisory — Update to Celebrity Photo Investigation — We wanted to provide an update to our investigation into the theft of photos of certain celebrities. When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilized Apple's engineers to discover the source.

A Call for a Low-Carb Diet — People who avoid carbohydrates and eat more fat, even saturated fat, lose more body fat and have fewer cardiovascular risks than people who follow the low-fat diet that health authorities have favored for decades, a major new study shows.

Senate campaigns retract political ads … Latest Stories — Weather — Flood warning issued for upper Chena River — by Associated Press on Sep 02, 10:49 — Authorities have issued a flood warning for the upper Chena River after more than 2 inches of rain have fallen since Monday afternoon.

Republicans, Make Your Case — Republicans continue to lack any strategy for winning the November elections beyond avoiding mistakes and hoping that President Obama's unpopularity, especially in key states, delivers control of the Senate to them. It must be said that the party has executed …

In Maryland, a Soviet-Style Punishment for a Novelist — From the Dept. of Insane and Dangerous Overreactions to Fictional Threats: — A 23-year-old teacher at a Cambridge, Md. middle school has been placed on leave and—in the words of a local news report—"taken in for an emergency medical evaluation" …

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